Ski Trysil: nightlife

Save

Save

The Stallen Pub is THE on-mountain après-ski spot

26 January 2016 • 12:00am

££

Stallen Pub

One of four timber log cabins on the Knettsetra mid-mountain plateau, the Stallen Pub is THE on-mountain après-ski spot. There's something special about an on-mountain pitstop at the end of the day, and this place take some beating. Every afternoon there's live music – Norwegians can’t get enough of the rock and metal tribute tunes – and the late-afternoon sun courses down through the leaded windows. If you are lucky enough to be visiting at Easter or mid-April, don't miss the free outdoor stage for three days of afternoon concerts, with up to 5,000 skiers and snowboarders rocking the slopes. Dates for Easter 2016 concerts are March 24-26, with another long weekend of mid-mountain madness from April 14-16. You can ski back down a green run to the Turistsenter when the music’s over.

Sagbruket

This slope-side bar at the very tip of the Radisson Blu is a decent spot to come in the evening

This slope-side bar at the very tip of the Radisson Blu is a decent spot to come in the evening and watch international sports and premiership football, and there's also sometimes live music providing the entertainment. The whole room, including the bar itself, is clad in light pine, with some old wooden skis mounted high on the walls. You can get basic bar food at lunchtime and in the evenings, but essentially this is more of a chilled-out boozer than restaurant. There is a good selection of beers: try the local Hansa, go wheat with an Erdinger, old school with a Newcastle Brown or bang on trend with a BrewDog IPA. If you are on the local nursery slopes during the day, don’t miss the opportunity to call in for a hot chocolate: they do a special children's mug of hot chocolate for NOK 10, perfect to warm the kids up after ski school. But my favourite time to visit has to be on a Friday evening after a round of night skiing, when you can grab a refreshing pint in the warmth and soak up the views out onto the floodlit slopes.

Restaurant Laaven 1790

If you want to dance on the tables after skiing, this is the place. It’s one of the liveliest après-ski bar-cum-restaurants on the mountain – you'll find it 50 metres or so from the bottom of the T2 Fjellekspressen chairlift. Laaven means cow shed or barn, and much of the wood construction dates back as far as the late 18th century – hence the 1790 tag. At peak times on Saturdays, Laaven gets so popular that the exterior après-ski area extends quite a distance up the mountain. There are assorted bars inside the building, and one small bar near the door operated by just two female staff, one pouring beer and the other taking the money (as much as 70,000-80,000 kroner a night). Late on Saturdays, the place turns in to a nightclub. Until 2002, revellers were banned from dancing on the tables inside, but then there was a change of policy and they were encouraged to do so. The Laaven has good food too, including superb goulash soup, "ski burgers", and as much as you can eat of some pasta dishes for NOK 99 at lunchtime.

Sindre Stua

Sindre Stua is an unpretentious, homely and friendly coffee shop-cum-bar right next door the big T2 Fjellekspressen chairlift at the Touristsenter. So you can walk there – perhaps to meet members of the family who are skiing. While the lifts are running, it serves pasta and homemade fare, but it is primarily a place for skiers and snowboarders to take a mid-morning or afternoon drinks break from the slopes. In contrast with some other rather noisier places in Trysil, Sindre Stua encourages après ski for the whole family, so you can actually hear yourself talking as you discuss the day’s skiing in relaxed and cosy surroundings.